Think Dangerously

Fatal Attack in Portland: Lives Given for a Better Future

Two men were killed while another remains hospitalized after being stabbed on a Portland light-rail last week.

Why did this happen? The victims stood up for two women who were being bullied because of their race – the color of their skin was a bit too dark.

In this event we find the duality that keeps the human race ever marching forward. An act of hatred compelled strangers to stand up for what they believed in – to stand up for a cause that has moved us to action since time immemorial.

Call it justice, honor, or love, for those who lost their lives it matters not so long as others receive the message. The forces of understanding draw us together like gravity despite occasionally being knocked off our axis by a meteoric event such as this.

Though a vacuum has been left through loss of life, energies from across the nation have rushed in to fill that void – from monetary support to the intangible embrace of empathy.

Our hope is that we doggedly take another painful step forward – and away from the weakness of character that fosters hatred and fear.

This is our toast to Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, and Micah David-Cole Fletcher – leadership by example, bravery in the face of adversity.